Dr Mary Bourke

CHIROPRACTOR, CENTRE OWNER / DIRECTOR

Dr Mary Bourke is a member of Sacro-Occipital Technique  Organisation and has obtained advanced  craniopath  certification. She has also been involved in the education and training  of other practitioners in this field.

Mary has been in Chiropractic Practice for over 29 years  and during this time has undertaken further studies in many aspects of Paediatric development.

Mary developed the Vital Babies Program for Mums with babies under 6 months of age to offer education and understanding of the factors that can influence optimal growth and development.

She is passionate about giving parents the information that will help guide them through what can be a very challenging time.

Working with children for so many years in practice has meant that Mary has loads of experience and insights into what is going on developmentally for your child.

Every child is unique and therefore no two children will present with exactly the same symptom picture.

 The assessment protocols used allow for these individual traits to be identified, so that a personalised program of chiropractic care (and other therapies when required) can be can be tailored to suit.

An area of particular interest for Mary has been in Facial growth and development and she has spent much time attending conferences all around the world looking into the different aspects that are affecting growth and development of this vital area.

Mary has undertaken over 300 hours of training in the field of Oral Facial Myofunctional therapy  which is an emerging field  of health science working with optimising function of the facial and Oral area.

Mary’s particular interest lies in the early detection of potential problems for young children and addressing the underlying causes of Oral growth and development issues.

These problems can be present from birth for example babies who have tongue dysfunction and feeding issues are the first signs that there are problems with the oral function and optimum development can be affected.

Children who are using Dummies are also more likely to develop issues with facial growth and function.

Not enough time on the tummy and back sleeping and too much time in capsules and seats are other factors that can be affecting how the oral posture as well as body posture develops.

There is much that can be done in the early years to assist with optimising our children’s facial growth.

Optimal facial growth is so important for breathing, eating and speaking.

Oral facial Myofunctional Therapy can be used as a therapy tool for all ages for any issues to do with jaw problems( TMD) and facial tone and function as well as breathing and sleep problems.

There are a myriad of symptoms that can occur when you do not have well developed jaw function and facial balance.

Headaches, jaw and neck pain, Tinnitis, Ear problems, Sinus, Sleep disturbance and  mouth breathing-with the many symptoms that can go with this.

Chiropractic care and oral Myofunctional therapy are a powerful combination and  can assist you with developing strategies to shift detrimental habits that may be causing chronic pain and ill health.